W205 lane keep system.. pre facelift vs post facelift

[eight]

Hey up, I used to have a CLS55.. it’s one of the cars I miss the most.
I’m kind of thinking about pre facelift C63 estates - nice sensible practical family car.
Nice reliable economical petrol engine.
Big boot etc.
By the drivers door on the dash are the ‘options’ buttons in a row - some cars have a steering wheel symbol button then a ‘car between two lines’ button which means lane keep was optioned.
Completely Un-AMG question but what’s the lane tracking like? Full hands off for ten seconds with lane track even on motorway curves - will it track lane markings perfectly, or is it more Lexus beep and do sod all or a game of lane marking ping pong as it bounces between the lines like a drunk Tesla needing another software update?
And does anyone know if the post facelifts with the silver steering wheel buttons for Distronic have a better lane keep and distronic system than the pre facelifts? Pre is my ideal due to exhaust, but post has supposedly better gearbox and shinier bits.
Thanks all!

 

[BJC]

I have it on my post facelift C63 and for long journeys and tedious traffic jams I think it’s brilliant.

I steers itself, tracks lanes and seems to be junction aware, auto braking with start stop etc. I don’t think it ping pongs either.

It isn’t perfect though…

When stopping and starting, the brake pedal makes a very faint creaking noise. A very minor issue I don’t really care too much about, and it’s probably unique to my car.

When on the motorway set at 70mph, sometimes when I go past a lorry the car will detect the 50mph sticker on the lorry and slowdown to that speed.

Sometimes it complains saying I’m not holding the steering wheel, when I am.

When driving over resurfaced roads, it can pick up black tarmac lines and it’ll think I’ve gone over the white lane makers, triggering an a warning and pulling the car slightly to the left/right.

Dirty roads or very faint road markings can cause it to wonder off too.

On the rare occasion, I feel it could read the road better as it accelerates maybe a touch too much resulting in harder braking than I’d have done myself.

More worryingly though is what I experienced when I first collected the car, where it would wonder towards the grass verge or onto the wrong side of the road, and fail to brake when approaching junctions or objects like other cars.

It took four attempts to get it resolved, which the dealership ultimately put it put down to a layer of film or slight grease between the sensors and window.

Anyway, those issues were several years ago now, and I’ve learnt what it likes/dislikes, and I have zero issues in using it.

My car was a cancelled order, and I didn’t specify it on my original C43 order so it was a nice surprise to find it. I could live without it, but I’d probably miss it for those long trips.

Good luck…

 

[eight]

Ha! That’s what I call a comprehensive reply - thank you - much appreciated. Sounds very positive. We do euro trips once/twice per year and it’d be a massive plus if it works as well as my current car.
Interesting point re grease on the screen or sensor, particularly as it was a new car?
Thanks again. I’ll have to drive one but I suspect if I do that all common sense will go out of the window so I’m trying to box tick before any test drives!

 

[DSM10000]

Why do we "neef" these technologies?

Genuine question. I have driven cars with them and couldn't see the point

 

[Ted]

Why do we "need" these technologies?

Genuine question. I have driven cars with them and couldn't see the point

100% agree
Lane departure alert and lane keep assist are imho not only a waste of time but bloody annoying.

 

[HappytalkAgain]

I have it on my post facelift C63 and for long journeys and tedious traffic jams I think it’s brilliant.

I steers itself, tracks lanes and seems to be junction aware, auto braking with start stop etc. I don’t think it ping pongs either.

It isn’t perfect though…

When stopping and starting, the brake pedal makes a very faint creaking noise. A very minor issue I don’t really care too much about, and it’s probably unique to my car.

When on the motorway set at 70mph, sometimes when I go past a lorry the car will detect the 50mph sticker on the lorry and slowdown to that speed.

Sometimes it complains saying I’m not holding the steering wheel, when I am.

When driving over resurfaced roads, it can pick up black tarmac lines and it’ll think I’ve gone over the white lane makers, triggering an a warning and pulling the car slightly to the left/right.

Dirty roads or very faint road markings can cause it to wonder off too.

On the rare occasion, I feel it could read the road better as it accelerates maybe a touch too much resulting in harder braking than I’d have done myself.

More worryingly though is what I experienced when I first collected the car, where it would wonder towards the grass verge or onto the wrong side of the road, and fail to brake when approaching junctions or objects like other cars.

It took four attempts to get it resolved, which the dealership ultimately put it put down to a layer of film or slight grease between the sensors and window.

Anyway, those issues were several years ago now, and I’ve learnt what it likes/dislikes, and I have zero issues in using it.

My car was a cancelled order, and I didn’t specify it on my original C43 order so it was a nice surprise to find it. I could live without it, but I’d probably miss it for those long trips.

Good luck…

We have the same on our C Estate. I think it’s a great system. Use it most the time.

 

[HappytalkAgain]

Why do we "neef" these technologies?

Genuine question. I have driven cars with them and couldn't see the point

100% agree
Lane departure alert and lane keep assist are imho not only a waste of time but bloody annoying.

Must be a generation thing.

 

[DSM10000]

Must be a generation thing.

Not at all

We have a couple of friends in their 30's, both have cars with these driving "aids"

Both dislike them.

To me it is the dumbing down and deskilling of driving but it is also clearly the slow drip feed of automation that will, eventually, lead to the acceptance of fully autonomous vehicles

 

[HappytalkAgain]

Not at all

We have a couple of friends in their 30's, both have cars with these driving "aids"

Both dislike them.

To me it is the dumbing down and deskilling when driving but it is also clearly the slow drip feed of partial automation that will, eventually, lead to the acceptance of fully autonomous vehicles

I gathered.

Twas meant to be a joke Mr.

(and you have friends???)

 

[DSM10000]

I gathered.

Twas meant to be a joke Mr.

(and you have friends???)

I know

Just wanted to elaborate my point

PS: Friends are like fish ; both stink after 3 days

 

[BJC]

Ha! That’s what I call a comprehensive reply - thank you - much appreciated. Sounds very positive. We do euro trips once/twice per year and it’d be a massive plus if it works as well as my current car.
Interesting point re grease on the screen or sensor, particularly as it was a new car?
Thanks again. I’ll have to drive one but I suspect if I do that all common sense will go out of the window so I’m trying to box tick before any test drives!

I’m not sure where the grease film came from, it was just one of those things and the dealership and Mercedes were good to deal with (that’s what counted to me).

For the other posts, I don’t disagree with some of the sentiment about automation etc. But my car came with it, I paid for it, and I’m going to use it

 

[eight]

Thanks all. Actually, no, scrub that. Thanks BJC
Completely agree lane keep can be annoying if unswitchableoffable and VW auto panic braking is genuinely dangerous, and lane keep and autocruise aren't really usable on very busy UK Mways, and a real man would never ever use these systems...
BUT!...
On a european autoroute or tollroad with bugger all traffic about, on an 8+ hour journey lane keep and adaptive cruise is honestly a gamechanger in terms of reducing stress.
Current Kia will do handsfree for what feels like ages and with a hand loosely on the wheel it'll guide the car pretty much perfectly on smooth well marked toll roads for miles/hours.
My next long trip car must have these systems and they must work properly - the C class has these as options so I thought I'd ask here.
My current car also has pneumatic tyres - a gamechanger over those good 'ol wooden ones